Give Your Heart A Break
by Snargaluff Pod
Summary: Hermione finds herself thrown back into the past, away from the horror that was her present. She is determined that things will change and the future she endured would never come to be. How much will she be able to change before it is too late?
1. Chapter 1

**I was bitten by a plot bunny. Here's the result. I hope you enjoy. :3**

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** Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER.**

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She couldn't believe it. He was gone; both of them were gone. Tears blurred her vision as she ran for her life. She had always thought that they would come out on top, that the light would win, but that conclusion was folly. They had failed to destroy the last horcrux. They had lost and her boys were dead.

She ran, not paying attention to where she was headed, knowing that she needed to get out of there before she was killed too. But what was the point? Life was nothing without her friends with her. She had lost so much, so many people were dead.

She would use the time turner round her neck to change everything, but they only went back 24 hours at the most and she had no clue how she would be able to change the outcome so that the light would win. They were far too outnumbered for any sort of a plan to work.

It had been a slaughter.

She tripped on something, falling face first into the blood soaked ground. Something smashed. Hermione turned around to see a red spell coming towards her, burning pain lighting her nerve endings up like a muggle Christmas tree. Her vision blurred and as she blacked out she could have sworn that she had seen a golden glow encompass her.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\ Give Your Heart a Break /\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

It was breakfast time in the great hall. James and Sirius had stuck their heads together. One would usually think that this would be metaphorically. But someone had thought it would be funny to use a sticking charm to actually stick their heads together and this was now what they were trying to puzzle out.

When they had first realised what had happened the two pranksters pranced around the great hall like a pair of lunatics. The headmaster chuckled lightly at the duo who seemed to, despite being pure-blooded and in a magical school, have forgotten that they could use magic. Dumbledore waved his wand, ending the charm, but Professor McGonagall was not very impressed. She glared at the boys who then sat down at the Gryffindor table.

"Moony mate-" Sirius started,

"-I can't believe-" James continued,

"-that you got us again!" they both finished in unison.

"It wasn't me." Remus shrugged.

"Then who was it?"

Until that moment none of them had noticed the grinning first year sitting not very far down the table.

"No!" Sirius cried, putting the pieces together first, "We were pranked by a first year!"

He continued noisily in his lamenting, now dying dramatically on the top of the table.

"Well done." the other Marauders said in unison to the tiny first year who was almost bouncing in excitement at the fact that he had actually managed to successfully prank them, "But you should know that this means that we have to get you back!"

The smile of the first year immediately vanished as the blood left his face. A promise to be pranked by the Marauders was certain humiliation.

Seeing his scared look Remus reassured the young boy, "Don't worry Daniel, I'll try to reign them in a bit."

Most people had come to ignore Sirius by this point, however their attention was redirected to him as a golden glow appeared in the air above him. Sirius soon followed the eyes of the people around him and leapt off the table, his joking forgotten. Eyes turned to Dumbledore who was just as confused and concerned as his students. A scream, quiet at first, grew in volume, silencing the whispers in the Great Hall, all turned towards the source.

Bang!

The light disappeared and a girl that was covered in blood took its place; bushy brown hair flying wild. Gravity caught hold of her and she plummeted to the table, smashing her head on a large jug and started to bleed profusely. The professors leapt into action and the girl was rushed away quickly out of the Great Hall before you could even say Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.

The moment the doors swung shut the whispers started. Who was she? What was that light? Was she working for You-Know Who? Why had there been screaming? The rumour mill was set into motion, each speculation wilder than the next.

However these questions were soon placed aside by the student body as conversations slipped onto, through lack of information, more comfortable subjects. However Sirius and James, due to their naturally inquisitive nature, wanted to know more. They were all set to go bounding to the hospital wing, demanding to be answered. Luckily Remus managed to dissuade them from this plan, causing Sirius to switch all his energy into plotting revenge on Daniel. Something that was paused for the duration of Charms, as Professor Flitwick was not impressed by Sirius' constant babbling.

"We should-" Sirius started excitedly, almost bouncing as he walked along with his friends on their way to DADA after Charms had finished.

"-Go easy on him." Remus finished for him, glaring at his friend.

"Awww. But Moon-"

"Padfoot, I've told you time and time again that the puppy-dog look doesn't, and will never work on me!"

"Please Moony! Please, please, please!" Sirius begged walking backwards in front of his friends. "He managed to prank us! Us! The marauders!"

"Well then you now know that-"

Remus's sentence was cut short as Sirius tripped and started to disappear over the handrail.

"Padfoot!" James cried, and rushed to grasp Sirius's foot. But it was too late. The three marauders looked on helplessly as their friend fell. Remus and James had their wands out to try and slow Sirius's fall, but the stairs decided to change, cutting Sirius's decent short and any time they had to try and help him. The sound of Sirius's bones breaking as he hit the staircase two floors below was audible.

"Someone go get Madam Pomfrey!" Remus yelled as he ran down the stairs, using a secret passageway behind a tapestry of a snidget at the base of the staircase to get to Sirius as quickly as possible.

Remus was the first person on the scene, immediately casting diagnostic charms to find out the level of damage. Apart from being unconscious due to head trauma, Sirius had broken both arms; three ribs; and had dislocated his left shoulder. Nothing particularly life threatening. At least, nothing that Madam Pomfrey was unable to fix within the next 24 hours. Remus conjured a stretcher and levitated Sirius onto it. James and Peter arrived, panting from having ran the whole way down. Remus forgot sometimes how much faster than them he was as a result of his lycanthropy.

"How is he?" Peter asked.

"Unconscious, but nothing too life threatening." Remus replied, "But I still need to get him to the Hospital Wing as quickly as possible."

Peter and James nodded in understanding. The three of them started to leave when they were stopped by the arrival of Professor McGonagall. The woman gave the stretcher one glance and asked what had happened. Remus hesitated, Sirius really needed to be seen to as soon as possible. James nodded to Remus, and so Remus left James and Peter to explain.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\ Give Your Heart a Break /\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hermione's eyes snapped open. It was quiet; too quiet. It was also rather dark. Cautiously she sat up, reaching for the wand that she hoped was in its holster. Hermione quickly realised that she was in the Hogwarts Hospital wing. But that was impossible, that area had been blown up just an hour ago. Hermione didn't understand. If there was one thing that Hermione hated, it would be not understanding something. There was a reason that she had spent countless hours in the library over the years.

Looking around the hospital wing, Hermione saw that she was mostly alone. Why were there not a plethora of other injured people? Heck, how on earth had she escaped the Death Eaters?

Hermione swung her legs off of the bed and stood up, determined to find out what was going on. Her vison blurred as she swayed on her feet. Hermione, even in her dizzy state recognised the symptoms of blood loss. Evidently she had lost a significant amount of blood for her to still be dizzy from it after a trip to the hospital wing. The world started to tilt and Hermione mentally braced herself for the hard reunion she was about to have with the floor.

Suddenly there were arms around her. Someone had caught her. She cringed away from the physical contact. Hermione felt herself be lowered to the ground slowly and could feel that she was lent up against someone. Hermione started to panic. What if it was a death eater? But why would there be a death eater in the hospital wing? Why would a death eater have caught her? The logical side of Hermione's mind won out and her panic abated. As Hermione's vison cleared she realised that the person holding her upright was most definitely not female.

"You can let go now." She said, speaking for the first time since she had woken. She was not enjoying being touched now that she was properly aware that it was happening. The arms around her retreated and Hermione went to try and stand up again, not expecting to be picked up from behind. Hermione flinched, her eyes automatically shutting and she waited for the pain to start. When none came Hermione opened her eyes to see the face of the person who was holding her.

She immediately regretted it. She must be dead. There was no other plausible explanation for why she had been looking up at a young Sirius Black. Sirius was dead; dead as a doornail. Not an animate object that was transfigured into a doornail that could be returned to living status with a Finite Incantum; a safe, normal, _muggle _doornail. Hermione opened her eyes again to the same view as before. However, now the young Black had an expression of concern on his face, pity and empathy evident in his eyes. Hermione looked down at her hands. She was shaking. That would probably be why Sirius looked so concerned.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice a whisper. Hermione looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. Sirius looked back at her sheepishly, obviously realising what a stupid question he had just asked. He swallowed nervously.

"Could-" Hermione started to say, but then had to swallow, "Could you possibly put me down?"

His eyes widened and Sirius immediately turned around towards the hospital bed that Hermione had been on previously and gently lowered her onto it. Hermione's back felt like it was on fire and a whimper of pain escaped her lips. She could feel the blood soaking through the hospital gown she was wearing.

"I'll go get Madame Pomfrey." Hermione heard Sirius say, although her attention was on the pain rather than the marauder. It seemed like an eternity before Madam Pomfrey arrived and shoved what seemed to be a whole cauldron of potions down Hermione's throat. The last thing Hermione heard before she lost consciousness was Sirius asking if she was going to be okay. She didn't hear the answer Madame Pomfrey gave him.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\ Give Your Heart a Break /\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

The next time Hermione opened her eyes she found herself surrounded by people, but nobody was paying her any attention as they were all arguing amongst themselves. Hermione was very confused by the group of people surrounding her. Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Harry, wait Harry? How was Harry alive? She had seen him die. Hermione had watched as the life faded from the green orbs as Voldemort took his final step towards victory. So much pain in those eyes as they apologised for what was to come, despite none of it being Harry's fault. Hermione could hear an echo of the cruel laughter that seemed etched into the very makeup of her memories. It was something that one would never forget.

Suddenly there was something touching her, Hermione flinched and flung herself in the opposite direction from the touch, pulling her wand from its holster mid-jump and landing crouched on the floor and ready to fight.

"Woah. Easy there."

"We don't want to hurt you."

"Please lower your wand, my dear."

The voices were almost soothing, but Hermione didn't let them fool her. They were all dead. They couldn't be real. Hermione deduced that the whole thing must be a very vivid hallucination. Perhaps she eventually withdrew into her mind after prolonged exposure to the cruciatus curse, like the Longbottoms. Someone cast a disarming charm at Hermione, but she was too quick. Hermione dodged the spell and threw one back, a wand soaring through the air into her outstretched hand. It was then that Hermione's actions caught up with her body and she fell to the floor in a bout of dizziness. The dizziness soon passed and Hermione looked up to see that not only were Remus, Sirius and Dumbledore a lot younger than when she had last saw them, Harry didn't even have the right colour eyes! Harry had brown eyes, not the ones he had inherited from his mother. They were more like the ones that James Potter had had.

Hermione's eyes widened as she realised what could have happened to her that would partially explain the situation somewhat logically.

"P-Professor Dumbledore, Sir. C-Could I possibly h-have a word?" She asked quietly, her voice not much louder than a whisper.

"Certainly, my dear." He replied, somehow still managing to have that infernal twinkle in his eye. Dumbledore turned to the others in the room and motioned to the door with his hand. The boys nodded and left without a word of complaint. Hermione stood up and didn't hesitate in throwing up a plethora of privacy wards to prevent any eavesdroppers. She sat down on the nearest hospital bed, Dumbledore choosing to sit opposite her on another bed.

"What year is it?" Hermione blurted out after what seemed like an eternity of silence. Dumbledore's eyes widened slightly, the only visible sign of surprise on the old man's face. The corners of the headmaster's lips twitched upwards before he replied.

"It is 1978. You are a time traveller then, Miss."

Hermione nodded absentmindedly, trying to wrap her thoughts around the fact that she had travelled over 20 years into the past, a feat previously thought to be impossible.

"But that's impossible." She murmured.

"Well, my dear, I myself like to accomplish at least 7 impossible things before breakfast." Dumbledore said with a smile.

Hermione smiled back at him, recognising the nod to muggle literature. Her smile turned to a frown when she realised how much of a problem she had stumbled into. Terrible things had happened to those who tried to mess with time. But the time that she had come from was not something she ever wanted to return to. Perhaps she could change everything; give Harry a chance to grow up with his parents. She could destroy the horcruxes now in the past and defeat Voldemort before he became too much of a problem. Hermione looked into the professors eyes and spoke.

"Things will change. I will not doom the world to the future I have seen."

Shock was the first emotion that Hermione saw on Dumbledore's face; the next was sorrow.

"I understand." The headmaster said after a few minutes silence. Hermione looked at him in surprise. She was expecting to have to fight the old man on the matter.

"What?"

"I understand your need to change the future. I can see it in your eyes. We lost, didn't we? The darkness overwhelmed the light."

Hermione nodded. "There is so much that needs changing and not long to do it. We have less than 4 years to change the course of history, professor."

If Hermione had the chance to change things then she was going to make sure that Harry grew up with his parents. She would make sure that the traitorous rat would never become the secret keeper for the Potters.

/\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\ Give Your Heart a Break /\\\/\\\/\\\/\\\

Hermione had ended up enrolling at Hogwarts to complete her seventh year, as she would be able to make the most difference if the was in the castle. She was far too young to be a teacher, despite her knowledge level, and so she was a 'transfer student'. This cover also had the advantage of granting Hermione the chance to finish her education, something she had been unable to do due to the war in her time. She was to be Professor McGonagall's goddaughter, the transfiguration teacher had been informed of Hermione's situation and had readily accepted the role the headmaster asked her to undertake. McGonagall, or as she had asked Hermione to call her outside of class Minerva, was insistent that as Hermione was not leaving any time soon that she was going to take her role seriously as Godmother and Hermione's guardian. Her cover was that her parents had recently died, which in truth they had. The death eaters had tracked them down despite all Hermione had done to try and protect them. Hermione had also opted to change her name, using a ritual that Professor Dumbledore knew of, magically changing her name so that it would appear even on the Marauder's map. She was now known as Hermione Danson.

Hermione's conversation with the sorting hat a few days later, once Madame Pomfrey had let her out of the hospital wing to visit the headmaster, was an interesting one to say the least. The hat was much intrigued by the fact that she had already been sorted by him once before. The hat had fixated on her first sorting for a few minutes before starting to actually sort her this time round. Apparently, although she had the thirst for knowledge needed for Ravenclaw and more than enough cunning to make it as a Slytherin the stupid hat had wanted to put her in Hufflepuff of all places. It took Hermione a good few minutes to convince the hat that Gryffindor was where she needed to be to most effectively stop the future that she had experienced. The only thing that influenced the hat's decision was when Hermione revealed that the hat would be destroyed should Hermione's future come to pass. The hat, when faced with its own mortality, gave in to Hermione's demand of being sorted into Gryffindor.

After her sorting Hermione faced the daunting task of breakfast. The butterflies in her stomach wouldn't stop. It was like starting school all over again, which Hermione supposed she was, as nobody knew her in this time. She stood outside the doors to the Great Hall, debating with herself as to when she should go in. Everyone would already be at breakfast, and so if she entered she would gain the attention of the whole school. But she didn't really have a choice in the matter, it had to happen sooner or later.

Hermione entered the Great Hall and sat down in the nearest clear space on the Gryffindor table. Unfortunately for her the nearest clear space was halfway down the stupid thing, and as a result she gained the attention of most of the students in the room. Everything was silent for all of three seconds when the whispering started. No one bothered to actually approach her and ask her the questions that were plaguing them, they just gossiped about her. Hermione heard the doors to the Great Hall open again, someone was even later than she was to breakfast. She turned her head and immediately regretted it.

It was the Marauders; and Sirius had managed to spot her within seconds of their entering the room. Hermione looked away and down at her food. Seeing James, although she had only seen him a couple of times, reminded her of Harry, and how it was unlikely that she would ever see her Harry again. Hermione sighed and stabbed her porridge with her spoon.

The bench next to her suddenly dipped and Hermione looked up to find Sirius Black grabbing food and putting it on the plate in front of him. Hermione blinked.

"Sorry about him." A boy who could only be Remus Lupin said as he and the other tree marauders sat down opposite her. It took Hermione a moment to process what was happening before she replied.

"That's okay."

Everything was about to change.


	2. Chapter 2

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**It's been almost exactly two years since the first chapter of this? Whoops...**

**I hope you enjoy this one.**

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"I'm Remus." The boy opposite her said, sticking his hand out. Hermione shook the extended hand.

"I'm Hermione. Hermione Danson."

"So, what you doing at the gryffindor table, Ducky?" Sirius asked from beside her once he had eaten some breakfast. Remus face-palmed on her other side. James grinned and Peter gave Hermione a small smile. Hermione's heart gave a twinge at the familiar face with the wrong eyes Hermione decided then and there that she was going to do her best to make sure that Peter never had reason to betray the Marauders. They all seemed quite close currently, so Hermione hoped that whatever had resulted in Peter joining the Dark Side hadn't happened yet. She was going to change the future.

"Excuse me?" Hermione asked, her thoughts returning to the question that Sirius asked, confused at the name, "Ducky?"

"Yeah," Sirius said, as if it made all the sense in the world to him, which it probably did, "Ducky."

"Right… Why Ducky?"

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius. "I apologise for this one." he said, pointing towards Sirius, "Sirius doesn't seem to have this thing called a brain filter. Or a good sense in nicknames."

"Shut up Moony." Sirius mumbled, shoving another piece of toast in his mouth. Remus waved his hand, suggesting that Sirius was again demonstrating his point.

"Moony? Dare I ask the story behind that?" Hermione asked, pretending that she didn't know exactly the reason why. Remus seemed to blanch slightly. He shook his head.

"Anywho! You never answered my question. " Sirius said to Hermione, interrupting whatever Remus had been about to say.

"You never answered mine either." Hermione shot straight back. "You answer mine first and then I'll answer yours."

Sirius made eye contact with Hermione and smirked before he opened his mouth.

"Hermione's from Shakespeare, The Winter's Tale right? So is Ducky, not The Winter's Tale but A Midsummer Night's Dream. Well, duck really but it didn't quite work so I added a y."

Hermione was thrown slightly. Sirius Black knew Shakespeare? It was a confusing notion seeing as Shakespeare was a muggle. Then again, the Sirius Black she had known before loved to regale tales of how he had gone against his muggle-hating parents at every opportunity. Reading muggle literature must be a part of that. Now that Sirius had explained his thought process behind the name, it made a lot more sense, Hermione being able to follow his strange line of thought. Hermione, of course, knew the part of the play that Sirius had been speaking of.

"O dainty duck! O dear!" Hermione muttered with a smile. She didn't think that she had said it loud enough for any of them to hear, but evidently she hadn't.

"Thy mantle good,

What, stain'd with blood!

Approach, ye Furies fell!

O Fates, come, come,

Cut thread and thrum;

Quail, crush, conclude, and quell!" Hermione stared at Sirius with wide eyes. He was able to quote Shakespeare? Hermione was surprised, most people who even bothered to read the plays never bothered to memorise quotes.

Remus joined in from her other side. "This passion, and the death of a dear friend, would

go near to make a man look sad."

Hermione grinned, she had a feeling that she was going to like it here. She could never quote Shakespeare with Ron and Harry, she didn't think that Ron had even heard of the man. She finished the quote,"Beshrew my heart, but I pity the man."

"You guys know Shakespeare?" Hermione asked with a huge grin on her face. She could hardly believe that these two pranksters knew Shakespeare.

"Well Peter and I don't" James said, speaking for the first time since the four had sat down, "But these two are obsessed."

"I'm a half-blood, but Mum had the complete works. I grew up reading his stuff." Remus explained. The time-traveller nodded and turned to Sirius with a questioning look.

"My family… dislikes muggles. I don't share that sentiment, reading 'such muggle trash' enraged my mother, and what's better than that."

Hermione was slightly taken aback at the blase attitude Sirius had towards his family. Before Hermione could comment Sirius turned the conversation back to her.

"I ask again, what you doing at the Gryffindor table Ducky?"

"Well, I go here now." Hermione answered, taking another sip of her pumpkin juice.

"Here?" Sirius replied confusedly. Hermione blinked, hadn't she just said so? What was so confusing?

"Yes, this is a school. Where people go to learn things." Hermione said sarcastically slowly so that Sirius would be able to understand the simple words. James snorted into his juice.

"Ha. Funny." The dog animagus replied with a grin, "But seriously, it's not the beginning of the year. Why now?"

"Sirius, she doesn't have to answer that."

"It's okay Remus. I'm here because the portkey my parents had made activated." Hermione said, using the story that Dumbledore, Minerva and herself had decided upon. "It wasn't the… smoothest ride, hence my injuries. It was made to bring me to my godmother if my parents were ever-" Hermione's throat closed up, her voice breaking at the thought of her parents, who were indeed dead to her. "-If they ever died" She finished in a whisper.

Hermione heard gasps from all around her, not just from the boys, but from those who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, interested by the 'new girl'.

"I'm sorry." James said. Hermione bristled immediately.

"I don't need your pity." She almost spat at the boy. James glared at her before speaking.

"I'm not pitying you, I'm empathising you clotpole. My parents passed away a month ago, two days after I left for school. I know what it's like."

Hermione's eyes widened, so that was why Harry never knew that set of grandparents. Hermione felt awful. "I- I didn't-"

"It's okay."

"Who's your godmother?" Sirius asked in a more than obvious attempt to change the conversation subject. Hermione turned and gave the boy a small smile.

"Minerva McGonnagall, she's the-"

"Minnie? Minnie is your godmother‽" Sirius exclaimed, slack jawed. Hermione looked down away from the boy, her hair automatically falling and creating a barrier between her and the world.

"Uh,Yeah."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that ducky. Minnie's awesome" Sirius said, tucking Hermione's hair behind her ear."

"Isn't she supposed to be Professor McGonagall to you?" Hermione asked.

"Indeed Mr Black." Minerva said from behind them, making everyone around them jump.

"Minnie!" Sirius exclaimed, leaping up from his seat and bowing overdramatically to her, "It is a pleasure to see you mi'lady."

Minerva pursed her lips and then grimaced. "Mr Black, I would advise ceasing unless you wish to spend your weekend polishing the trophy room by hand."

Sirius smirked at her, but nevertheless did as he was told and sat down. Minerva turned to Hermione and handed her a piece of parchment.

"This is your class schedule, if you have any problems, any problems at all, "She said, sparing a glance towards the marauder as she did so, "feel free to come and find me."

"Yes, _Professor_." Hermione replied with a small smile. She didn't deserve how well her head of house had been treating her. The professor had readily taken her under her wing and Hermione was slightly overwhelmed by how much she seemed to care. Once Minerva had left Sirius tore the parchment from her hand.

"Ancient runes, arithmancy, potions, history of magic, transfiguration, charms. Ducky, how many classes are you taking?" Sirius exclaimed.

"Nine."

"Nine? Are you crazy?"

"Yes, yes I am. Will that be a problem?" Hermione replied, eyebrow raised.

"No ma'am, will not be a problem ma'am!" Sirius said with a salute. Hermione rolled her eyes at his antics.

"So you're taking ancient runes?" Remus asked and drew Hermione into what ended up as an intelligent discussion about the finer points of rune cluster creation.

Soon breakfast was over and with it her discussion with Remus. Hermione claimed a need to use the loo, in doing so ditching the boys. After a few minutes Hermione left, making sure that she 'got lost' on the way. Hermione hated being late with a passion, but for the sake of not blowing her cover story she needed to credibly be 'the new girl'. She could claim a little familiarity with Hogwarts with Minerva being her Godmother, but it wouldn't do for the other students to become suspicious. Thus she made sure that she was late to charms. Professor Flitwick would be understanding, it was her first day after all.

By the time that Hermione made it to Charms class she was a good five minutes late to the lesson. She would have only been two minutes late, but one of the staircases decided that it didn't like her and so Hermione had to go the long way round. As she walked in she made her apologies to the professor. Hermione could only see one free seat in the room.

"That's perfectly okay for today, just try not to do so in future. Why don't you take a seat?" Professor Flitwick asked, gesturing to the one free one nearer the front of the classroom. Hermione got note taking materials out and listened to what Flitwick was saying. They were studying the Hydratonne charm. Hermione already could do this charm, having learnt it despite not having attended for her original seventh year. She still took a copious amount of notes because anything was sure to come in handy when revising for NEWTS at the end of the year.

The class soon came to an end and Hermione made her way to transfiguration, "following" some of the other students that had been in her Charms class that had mentioned having the lesson next. The classroom was mostly empty when the students she was "following" arrived at the class. Hermione immediately headed for the same seat in which she had always sat in in her past and sat down. Hermione set up her writing utensils as the other students trickled in. Hermione lost herself in her thoughts as she waited for the lesson to start. It was for that reason that she didn't notice Sirius beside her until he whispered into her ear, making her jump.

"You're in my seat Ducky. I guess I'll just have to make do and just bask in the glory that is that particular seat from here instead." He said, sitting down in the chair next to her.

Hermione clutched at her heart which was racing. When had Sirius arrived? And how had she not noticed his approach? Mad-Eye would have been disappointed in her lack of attention.

"Mr Black, if you have had enough of giving heart attacks to your classmates then we will proceed with today's lesson" Professor McGonagall said, her laughter only just concealed in her voice to those who didn't know her. Hermione could see through her though and flushed bright red.

"Human transfiguration is a complex art and fatal if it goes wrong." McGonagall started her lecture. Hermione was hooked. She had always been fascinated by the subject but had never attempted any of the spells herself in fear of accidentally injuring someone. One did not simply mess around with human transfiguration. The professor continued to explain the complexities behind such spells before explaining the task they were to do. Hermione was almost bouncing in her seat. She was going to do human transfiguration! She had waited years for this moment!

"You will be working with the person sat next to you. You may begin."

Hermione turned to Sirius with a grin on her face.

"What's gotten you so excited Ducky?" He asked.

"We're doing human transfiguration!" She exclaimed, "I've been looking forward to thing since I was 11!"

Sirius smiled at her. "Well then, what are you waiting for?"

Hermione took her wand out of it's holder and pointed it at Sirius's face, startling him slightly.

"Mutatio nasum."

Hermione frowned when the spell didn't work. Why hadn't it worked? She had put the correct amount of focus and energy into the spell.

"Mutatio nasum." She said again, watching with triumph as Sirius' nose changed gradually into an elephant's trunk. The people around them laughed as they saw what had happened to Sirius' nose. Sirius tried to say something, but the words couldn't be heard through the trunk in front of his mouth.

"Well done Her-Miss Danson! 10 point to Gryffindor!" Professor McGonagall said from across the room, noticing the commotion was due to somebody getting the spell correctly. Hermione couldn't help but laugh at the look on Sirius' face. Hermione reversed the spell after a few minutes and Sirius' hands flew up to his face, checking that everything was normal. Hermione had considered playing a prank on the prankster by changing it into something else, rather than reversing what she had done, but she decided not too.

"Nice one Hermione!" James called from across the room, drawing attention to himself. He currently had little cat ears poking out of his hair, thanks to Remus. Hermione had to admit that the ears were adorable. Hermione smiled to herself. Harry would have loved to have seen James like this. Hermione immediately felt an almost overwhelming wave of guilt and grief wash over her. She tugged on the cuffs of her outer robe, almost hiding her hands in the material. Harry should have been the one there. Harry should have had the chance to meet his parents; to have memories of them that weren't of their dying moments. But Harry didn't exist anymore. He only existed in her head, her Harry that is. Her Harry was gone.

She needed out. She couldn't sit here and laugh with dead people, like she didn't know how they had died. Hermione felt the panic in her rise. What if she couldn't save anybody? What if she had to watch them all die again, unable to do anything. Question after question raced through her mind, but Hermione didn't have any of the answers.

A tug on her arm pulled Hermione out of her thoughts and into the present, her wand shooting up to apprehend whoever had touched her. It took Hermione's brain a few moments to catch up with her body, and she realised that it was Sirius that was tugging on her arm.

"Come on." Sirius murmured. Hermione gave him a look of confusion. "You're crying. Do you really want others to notice?"

"Hermione shook her head, and touched her cheek with her hand. It was wet. Hermione hadn't even realised that she had been crying. The two of them left the room, Hermione glanced at Professor McGonagall who nodded at her. Hermione felt a lot better leaving the classroom knowing that she has the professor's permission.

Sirius led Hermione by the hand to an empty classroom a few corridors away. Hermione attempted to shove down the overwhelming feelings of grief and confusion, determined to not show her weak side to Sirius. He wasn't the Sirius she had know; the Sirius she had bonded with at Grimmauld Place.

Sirius gently placed his hands on her shoulders and Hermione felt the dam break. It shouldn't have been her. She shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have survived. She should be dead. She wasn't meant to be here. Harry should have lived. Harry should be here. They were gone. There were all gone. Even if there was some way to get back to the future they were all dead. They were gone and there wasn't anything that Hermione could do about it.

"Go. Just go." She whispered, her voice thick with tears and breaking halfway through.

Hermione felt her knees give way and she dropped to the floor, her knees smarting as they hit the cold stone floor. She shook with the force of the sobs that stole their way through her body. Everything was different. Everything was gone; and Hermione didn't know if she was going to be enough to change things the way that she wanted to. She couldn't fail; not this time. There was far too much at stake.

Hermione splayed her hands across the floor. It was cold. Her fingers started stroking the floor. The cool temperature of the floor slowing grounding her and bringing her back to reality. She took a deep breath in, embarrassed that she had broken down and lost control like that, especially in front of someone. Hermione looked up and around the room to find that she was alone, although the door was slightly ajar.

Hermione wiped the tears from her face with the sleeve of her robes and stood up. She tried to get back to normal before exiting the room; trying to not be too stiff, too formal. However she was unsure of what to do with her hands, and so ended up shoving them deep into the pockets of her robe.

On the floor a small way down the corridor sat Sirius Black. His head snapped up upon hearing the classroom door creak. Hermione gave him a small watery smile, praying that he wouldn't question why she had been crying.

"Sometimes one just need to have a good cry. Feeling any better Ducky?"

Hermione nodded numbly, astounded at how maturely Sirius was handling the situation. From what she had heard from the Sirius at Grimmauld, Hermione had been expecting him to joke and make light of the situation. Incredibly, she did actually feel better for having had a good long cry.

"How-" Hermione coughed to clear the croaky voice that came out at first, "How long was I-?

Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"It's currently lunch, so a couple of hours or so."

Hermione blinked. Had she really been crying for that long? She hadn't thought that it had been more than a half hour at most. Although, it did feel as though she had cried for an age and well as no time at all. She was surprised that Sirius had waited for her. Hermione cast a tempus charm and confirmed that it was indeed three quarters of the way through their lunch hour. The only plus side of this was that Hermione hadn't missed any classes as she had two free periods Hermione's stomach gave a loud rumble at this news, causing Sirius to chuckle lightly.

"Come on. Let's go get something from the kitchens."

Hermione forced a look of surprise onto her face. "You know where the kitchens are?" She asked as the two of them started walking.

"Oh Ducky, you have a lot to learn about Hogwarts. A marauder knows where everything is." Sirius said arrogantly as he walked backwards with his arms stretched out wide. Hermione arched an eyebrow at his statement. Sirius stuck his tongue out her and then proceeded to trip over the edge of one of the flagstones. Hermione felt a grin slip onto her face.

"So you did that purposefully?"

"Of course I did!"

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The rest of the day took far too long to pass and Hermione was exhausted mentally and emotionally, as well as physically by the time she made it up to her dorm room. She didn't even talk to her new roommates, but just flopped face first onto her bed fully clothed, and was asleep in an instant.

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**PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!**

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